


Are You My Toughest Critic?

by rleiena1



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman and Robin (Comics), DCU, Red Robin (Comics), Robin (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Anxiety, Fluff, Gotham Academy, M/M, Neighbors, No Batman, Same Age, Socialites - Freeform, Teenagers, Young Bruce, Young Bruce Wayne
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-22
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-03-08 01:29:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13447641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rleiena1/pseuds/rleiena1
Summary: The Waynes and Drakes have always had a friendly rivalry, from competing in the corporate space, to being neighbors, to having sons of the same age.Bruce Wayne is the darling of Gotham socialites, but Tim cannot stand him.





	1. Ch 1

A shrill laugh, one drenched in as much theater and insincerity as the finest of Gotham's elite, shakes Tim out of his reverie as he turns to regard the woman walking past him. He's standing to the side of the ballroom, nursing a flute of peach champagne as gentle orchestra music fills the air. Regarding his Rolex watch, he is disappointed to find that only an hour and a half has passed by in the gala.

His parents had left him immediately upon arrival at the mansion and as customary for a bored seventeen year old borne into the upper echelon of Gotham high society, he had gone straight to the bar and ordered a drink. That had been an hour ago and Tim takes a sip of his third champagne glass, starting to feel the burn of the alcohol fill his chest. He had engaged in some light conversation with some of his peers, but he was uninterested in the smoozing attitude they had for the adults as they chased around important figures, trying to insert themselves into the conversations of self-admiration.

Tim had been having none of that and he wonders if he can actually get away with stepping out of the room entirely and spending the rest of the night sitting in the host's garden. As long as he got home later than his parents, they would assume he had been held up talking to important people and wouldn't nag him the next morning.

Just as he is taking another sip, he catches movement towards him and frowns at the figure approaching him. It's Bruce Wayne and the other teen gives him a cheerful grin when their eyes meet. Tim doesn't even hide his eye roll as Bruce gets closer to him.

"Tim, aren't you a sight for sore eyes," Bruce says in his airy tone. The teen makes a show of looking Tim up and down as he pauses near him and leans back with his thumbs gracefully tucked into his Giorgio Armani tuxedo pockets. Tim gives a noncommittal hum in response and doesn't bother to turn to regard him. Bruce was always acting this way, always making side comments and pretentious quips.

Others viewed it as a sort of rivalry between the two and Bruce's way of asserting his dominance and popularity over Tim. But Tim knew better, that Bruce just loved to see Tim get riled up. Regardless of the reason, Tim did not enjoy his small moments with Bruce as they always ended up putting him on edge.

"Why are you coming over here? Getting tired of complimenting how young Ms. Ether looks?"

"Hm, it's only fun the first few times when she blushes and then slips a ruby ring in my back pocket. Then it starts creeping into sugar mama territory."

"Which I wouldn't be surprised if you ended up accepting."

Bruce gives a fake gasp and presses a hand on his chest. "You wound me Tim! I can afford my own pearls."

Tim is already starting to feel exhausted from the little interaction with Bruce and he takes a large gulp out of his glass in order to empty his drink and create an excuse to excuse himself.

"Don't you have any other bored seventeen year old to annoy?"

"None as bored as you. Haha, why'd you even bother to come if you were gonna sulk in the corner."

"Cause I believe in the cause you asshole. Do you even know what this gala is about?"

"Raising funds and awareness on the opioid crisis in the slums. Although, the cause is a bit tone deaf, if we really want to tackle the opioid crisis, we need to be cracking down on our healthcare providers and the need to monetize the sick, which isn't exactly the statement this gala is making after inviting three of the largest prescription medicine companies as 'valued' guests."

Tim blinks in surprise at Bruce's shrewd answer, but any amount of respect is dropped when Bruce winks at him and waves his hand airily, "But I'm just here for the pretty girls and boys." Tim decides to hold back a biting remark and frowns down at his drink. Bruce was always doing that. Always acting out a persona.

There's only a little bit left at the bottom of Tim's flute, but before he can tilt it back and finish it, a hand gently snatches it out of his grasp. Tim turns in surprise to watch Bruce press the glass to his lips and drink the last drops of the champagne, all the while holding his gaze. When he finishes the contents, he lowers the glass and keeps his eyes locked with Tim's. Tim's eyes widen as he watches Bruce's tongue sneak out and run over his bottom lip. Bruce finally drops his gaze down to Tim's lips and he smirks.

"Mm, tastes good."

Tim's face erupts in red and he can't stop his mouth from falling open at the upfront nature of Bruce's flirting. He feels like he's lost a battle when Bruce grins at him teasingly, his ice blue eyes swimming with amusement.

"My god Bruce," Tim grumbles. "No wonder you're known as the man whore of Gotham elite."

Bruce only gives a charming laugh at Tim's remark. "Oh I wouldn't dare sully the name of my good parents that way." 

The sight of Gotham's most prestigious families' heirs together starts to attract a crowd and young wannabes start to press around them. Tim is thankful that they showed up after Bruce's antics, but now he's starting to feel uncomfortable at all the attention. Bruce eats up the spotlight like the star he is and the moment he's distracted while thanking a girl who says she noticed his empty drink and handing him another one, Tim is slipping away. Tim hears Bruce momentarily pause when he leaves. Then the other male continues to entertain the crowd, making the group laugh in unison at a joke. 

Almost another half-hour later, the host of the gala makes a final remark and announces the total amount raised by the participants. After the self-congratulations and cheers are given, the gala is winding down and people start to trickle out of the ballroom. Tim feels a bit of liquid courage in his blood and when he finds his parents, he nonchalantly falls in step next to them.

His mom looks up at him in surprise. "Tim, what are you doing? We're leaving so early, stay back and mingle with the crowd some more." Before he can reply, his dad injects his agreement. "Yes Tim. I heard the CEO of Star Labs is here, you should introduce yourself to him, if you haven't already done so." Mrs. Drake turns to regard her husband. "Oh preposterous, of course our Timothy must have made his rounds and talked to him already." She then turns to regard her son. "Right, son?"

Any courage Tim had has fizzled out and he plasters a fake smile on his lips. "Yes, of course. I told him about my school's initiative to tutor lower income students in STEM classes and he said he thought it was a wonderful cause."

Mr and Mrs Drake look at Tim with pride and Mrs. Drake wraps a shawl around her shoulders more firmly. "That's wonderful Timothy. We're taking another chaffeur home, so Geoffry is waiting in the car when you're ready to go. Make sure to say hello to Ms. Ether as well!"

Before Tim can say anything, his parent's are turning away and leaving with some of the crowd. With a sigh of resignation, Tim turns to regard the stragglers of the gala. There are young adults still around and due to the smaller crowd, they are finally able to have conversations with the people they had been satelliting all night. There are still many important figures around, chatting about the funds, the publicity behind the gala, and any young blood that caught their eye. Tim makes a beeline to the back gates, intent on spending the night sitting out in the gardens.

He finds a good space, a bench tucked between a few shrubs and the wall of the mansion and he settles down, looking up at the foggy sky. The air is chilly, but Tim likes the way it cools down the subtle burn of alcohol left in his system. Before he can pull his phone out of his pocket and scroll through some science journals he had bookmarked, he hears two people in the garden with him. He stiffens as he recognizes the deep drawl of one of them. It's Bruce and another girl. Tim can hear her giggling as Bruce is regaling her about a story of his childhood. A peek behind the shrub shows Bruce with his arm wrapped around her waist as they stroll through the scenic garden. The girl is skinny and petite and plastered to Bruce's side and only serves to accentuate Bruce's long torso and long legs and the form-fitting suit.

Half of Tim wants to snap at them to go somewhere else and the other half of Tim wants to flee the scene as quickly as possible. The part of Tim that wins out is filled with resignation and misery as he hunkers down in his bench to avoid being spotted. Luckily for Tim, after a few more giggles, Bruce and the girl are heading back into the mansion. When Tim hears the last strain of giggle fade away, he allows himself to release the pained gasp that had been stuck in his chest. He throws his head back against the wall of vines and presses the palms of his hands against his eyes, willing himself to forget about everything and pushes down any emotion he feels with dogged determination.

After another hour sitting in the chilly night, Tim gets up from his seat and enters the main entryway to exit the mansion, giving no regards to anybody who gives him a curious look at his sudden appearance. The mansion is almost empty, the only remaining few are discussing business and financing side deals. He finds his car nestled in a spot on the long circle driveway and gives two raps on the passenger seat. Geoffry looks up from his phone and unlocks the doors. Tim opens the back seat and slides in quietly.

"Had a productive night Master Drake?"

"Yes, very productive," Tim answers robotically. He leans his forehead against the cool window and shuts his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How have I not read a young Bruce Wayne/Tim Drake fic yet? Is there one hiding out there? Please send my way if there is. Either way, I could not resist the appeal of this story and the what if's I had imagining Bruce and Tim being the same age in a modern setting. Neighbors, high society elites, black haired blue eyed beauties. this story practically writes itself. 
> 
> Rated M for future chapters, is essentially T for now.
> 
> Next chapter to be up soon! Comments, kudos, bookies appreciated!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slightly updated the first chapter.

When Tim enters school the next day, the seniors are abuzz as gossip about last night's gala makes its round throughout the class. Most of the seniors had been in attendance, it is Gotham Private after all, and everyone had something to share whether it be gossip they overheard from the grown-ups, to hookups that occurred after the main event, like of Bruce Wayne and Wendy Milles from the Milles Foundation.

Amongst the petty gossip, the seniors are also abuzz about the latest college news. Early admissions notifications for many of the top Ivy schools are coming up in the next week and everyone is on edge. There is nothing more they can do at this point, but the desire to speculate on who would be getting in is always a good distraction as the date approaches.

Of course everyone has their money on Bruce Wayne getting accepted to Harvard as Bruce wasn't exactly tight-lipped about where he had been applying to and would tell anyone who asked. The close second is Timothy Drake, but he had been much more discreet about his application decisions and no one is exactly sure if he had applied. However, as Tim's dad was an alumnus at Harvard, everyone guessed that Tim had to to have chosen Harvard as his early admission college. Even with this fact, everyone's bet is still on Bruce being the early admission acceptance.

Gotham Private is a prestigious school with a graduating class of around 160 students. To keep any type of favoritism gossip or scandal low, it is usually expected that each Ivy school accepted only one to two early admission students and to defer the rest. While it wasn't a big deal to be deferred as usually most students got accepted to their top choice, it was still a point of contention as it gave everyone fodder to pit each one against each other. Gotham Private loved its gossip after all.

Tim moves along the pristine halls to his locker to stuff his coat inside and grab his books for his first class. He's not paying attention to any of the gossip, but he can still see the underclassmen darting around him to sneak glances at him and eavesdrop on the seniors.

The day proceeds as usual: taking copious notes in class, eating lunch with Ives in the dining hall, ignoring Bruce's load rackets one table away, finding solace and developing his film in the dark room, and ending the day with his least favorite class, Mr. Easton's Latin class. 

It's a Wednesday which means the student council is having a meeting after school. As Tim gathers his things from his final class, he looks up to see Bruce lingering in the hall, waiting for him. Lately, Bruce had been ramping up his effort to interact with Tim and Tim isn't sure how he feels about it. 

"God, that class is such a drag," Bruce says lightly as the two fall into step together to go to the student council meeting room.

Usually Tim would have disagreed because he liked to argue for the sake of arguing when it came to Bruce Wayne, but even he had to frown and nod in agreement. Mostly because there's something about Mr. Easton and his snide comments that even Tim can't handle.

"So Wendy Milles huh. An upgrade from Vicky Vale at least." Tim says before he can stop himself. He keeps his poker face on, but he can feel his ears turn red. Why had he brought that up? He didn't care who Bruce is into these days.

"Haha no, she was just so drunk that I was trying to lead her through the back garden to get her home. Her so called friends were just taking videos of her. Plus, Vicky Vale was like three months ago."

"Oh right, there was Caroline Linde after her wasn't there," Tim says again before he can stop himself.

"Why Tim, are you keeping tabs on me?" Bruce says with a sugary tone and a wide grin. Tim is horrified inside, but he still keeps his poker face up.

"It's not exactly hard to keep tabs when the whole student body is broadcasting 'Keeping up with Bruce Wayne' everyday."

"Hm, I'm a little more classy than that Tim. I prefer `The Simple Life`."

Tim can't help but snort at Bruce and Bruce is grinning at him and is about to say more, when Anna, their fellow council member catches up to them from an adjacent hall.

"Hey guys! How's it going!"

The two greet Anna and out of habit they move to place the newcomer in-between them as they continue their walk.

"So, are you guys excited about admissions coming next week?" she asks animatedly.

Tim and Bruce both look over Anna's head and catches each other's eyes before looking away quickly.

"I applied to MIT for early action, so hopefully I'll get in, but I know that Mari Yuen also applied so we'll see if her first place at the science convention gives her that edge. Even if her hypothesis was just a repeat of Ray Palmer's discovery 2011. There was nothing inventive about it!" When Anna realizes her rambling she looks at Bruce and Tim with an abashed grin. "Sorry, rambling again..."

Bruce gives her a gentle smile. "I'm sure you're going to get into MIT Anna. You're a very smart woman."

A blush at the compliment blooms across Anna's nose and she beams at him. "I know you'll get into Harvard for sure!" She turns and gives Tim one as well. "You both will!"

"Who said I applied," Tim replies coolly. Both Anna and Bruce shoot him a confused look.

"But I thought-" Bruce starts, but before he can finish that thought, they arrive to the meeting room and Tim briskly opens the door and walks in, bringing the members already inside to attention to start the meeting.

The meeting goes for awhile as the holidays and festivals were coming up. Tim as Vice President discusses each point in the agenda as Mike Keenan diligently takes notes as the Secretary and Bruce as President gives his executive decision and listens patiently to all the ideas and Anna gives her budget report. The meeting lasts for an hour already and Tim is ready to call it to an end.

Bruce can tell Tim is about to the cut the meeting off. "So Tim, you and I should meet up to discuss what to say for the Newman charity auction?"

"There's no need for that. I already got Mike to write up the charity letter."

Tim isn't looking at Bruce so he misses the frown that Bruce makes and how he bites his lip in thought.

"Well what about-"

"The teacher appreciation weekend retreat plans are going smoothly as we just discussed earlier."

"Yes, but what if-"

"If our first choice for the venue falls through, we already have our second choice on standby. As we just discussed."

When Bruce has nothing else to say, Tim looks at the other members. "Okay, we're done here, see you all at Friday's morning meeting."

Everyone packs up their things and trickles out of the room until it's just Bruce and Tim left. Tim sends off a text message to Geoffry that he'd be out in a few minutes when he catches Bruce lingering near the doorway again.

"So uh, Harvard's early admissions announcement is coming up soon," Bruce says as nonchalantly as he possibly can. However, any attempt to be blase about it has clearly failed as Tim levels Bruce with a cold stare.

"Yes, it is." Tim replies, void of any emotion. Bruce can't meet his gaze at the moment and he is fiddling with the strap of his backpack.

"And you... applied?" Bruce asks, again as innocently as possible.

"Not by my own choice, but yes, I did apply." Tim's look becomes icier. "I'm guessing that you also applied as well, if you're asking me."

Bruce is doing his best to hide a relieved smile, but he gives a chuckle and a shrug. "I mean I bet almost all of our senior class did, so it's no surprise right?"

"Yes, but not all of our senior class is the Bruce Wayne."

Bruce's carefree attitude is dropped instantly and Tim can feel the heavy mood change. Although Bruce is still not looking at him, the other teen is glaring with displeasure at the wall across from him.

"Of course, I'm sure my name alone would guarantee the acceptance right?" Bruce says in a sarcastic and sour tone.

"No, it probably has more to do with how everyone thinks you're so perfect. You have everyone wrapped around your finger," Tim says in derision.

"And you must think yourself so magnificent that you're above that, huh?" 

"Excuse me for not bowing at your feet."

Bruce's eyes are livid. "When the hell do I ask anyone to do that?"

"You don't have to ask, I'm sure your fans would do it for free."

Tim is meeting Bruce's fierce eyes with a cold look of his own. He's perfected the look over years of observing his mother's icy facade. When Bruce finally turns away and marches back to the lockers, Tim gives him a few paces ahead before following him back. During the walk there, Tim can't help but feel a bit regretful and gloomy about the things he had said to Bruce. While he still believed that Bruce had brought up Harvard just to mess with him, he didn't mean to go so far as to paint Bruce out to be as narcissistic as he said.

When Tim retrieves his coat from his locker, he looks up to where Bruce is angrily stuffing his books into his locker a few feet across from him. Just as Tim opens his mouth to say something, Bruce slams his locker door shut and is storming away, leaving the building. The locker door echoes across the hall and leaves Tim feeling empty. Filled with disappointment, in himself and in the turn of the conversation, he quietly closes his own locker and leaves the cold and dark building.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update guys! Ch 2 was not at all fleshed out, so it was hard to write. It's mostly a filler/exposition chapter so it was a pain to get through, but everything moving forward should be much faster! Plus it'll be picking up from here! Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed! I'll be making sure I update the next chapter by next week Wednesday :)


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